(Radio Iowa) – The margin in Iowa’s undecided second congressional district race has changed, by three votes, after ballot recounting started yesterday (Tuesday) in Scott County. All 24 counties in the district will be recounting the nearly 400-thousand ballots cast in the contest over the next 10 days. As of now, Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks leads Democrat Rita Hart by 50 votes.

The recount in Johnson County started this (Wednesday) morning. It may take days for the three-member Recount Boards in some of the district’s larger counties to complete the process. The secretary of state will certify statewide election results on November 30th. The re-checked results in the second congressional district are due on the weekend after Thanksgiving.

The Red Oak Police Department and the Red Oak Volunteer Firefighters Assn., with the support and assistance of the following Dept. of public safety agencies, local businesses and organizations in Montgomery County, are once again going to be a distribution point for the Marine Toys for Tots program for Montgomery County. Those agencies involved include: Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency, Stanton Fire & Rescue, Villisca EMS Association, Villisca Fire Department, Grant Fire Department & First Responders, and Elliott Fire First Responders, Fareway, Montgomery County YMCA, Eagle’s Aerie #2715, Bucksnort Restaurant, SWIA Squadron of Heroes, Red Oak Community Schools, Cubby’s, HyVee, Orscheln’s, Hardware Hank. The goal, is to see to it that every child, which is registered in Montgomery County, is able to have at least one new toy for Christmas this year.

Registration dates: Now until Dec. 1st.

• A toy drop off/pre-registration day is set for November 30th, 2020 at Fareway parking lot in Red Oak, from 5PM-7PM with Santa and the Gammell lighted fire truck!
• December 1st, 2020 is the main sign up day. It will be held at the Bucksnort Restaurant, 322 E. Coolbaugh in Red Oak – from 2 until 4 P.M. BOTH EVENTS WILL BE MANDATORY MASK EVENTS.
• At Fareway for the toy drop off, you may drive thru; to see Santa on the fire truck please practice social distancing rules and sign ups need to be contactless so please have child’s birth certificate or medical card ready to display to the officers in charge.
• The main sign-up at Bucksnort will be 1 individual per time, NO Groups or multiples registering together, this will be contactless also – please have documents ready to show. If you are unable to make it on the listed dates, contact ROPD Chief Justin Rhamy and he will assist you in figuring out other means of getting you signed up.
• No matter how you register, whether online, or in person, the necessary information will need to be provided for each child you want to register, and then go through the screening process. After Dec 1st it will have to be done online, through the website. However, delivery of the toys, cannot be guaranteed after that time. This is because of time needed to confirm the details of the necessary registration process, and time available to the person at the local distribution site to follow up.
• The projected toy delivery date will be set for December 21st, 2020.

A parent, guardian, or grandparents are the only ones allowed to sign up a child. There is some information that needs to be brought in with the person registering the child when they come to register. If they can bring a copy of the child’s birth certificate, that works the best. Child’s full name as it appears on the birth certificate, Date of Birth, parent’s names and a telephone number of the person registering the child.

Toys are divided into three age groups with a maximum age of 14.

0-3 Non gender specific

4-8 Male/Female

9-14 Male/Female

DONATIONS: Fareway, Montgomery County YMCA, Cubby’s, The Bucksnort, Hardware Hank, Orscheln’s, HyVee and the Red Oak Police Department, are also a local drop off point for toys, and the toys must be a new unwrapped toy. Any person having questions in regards to the Toys for Tots program are encouraged to contact Chief Justin Rhamy of the Red Oak Police Department at 712-623-6500.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is questioning whether Facebook and Twitter employees are politically hostile to conservatives. Ernst was among the Republicans on a Senate Committee who expressed concerns yesterday (Tuesday) that conservatives were being censored on the social media platforms in the run up to the 2020 Election. “The people that I hear from, of course, believe that conservatives were wrongfully being silenced, while those on the left that were given basically free reign on your platforms,” Ernst said. “…You do recruit heavily from California, which leans to your employee base skewing quite heavily to the left.”

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Jack Dorsey of Twitter testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee for hours yesterday (Tuesday). Ernst asked if they had taken steps to make their employee base more politically balanced. Zuckerberg responded, “This is a sensitive area where I don’t think it would be appropriate for us to ask people on the way in what they’re political affiliation is.”

Zuckerberg says as more people are able to work remotely, from anywhere, the company’s employee roster will diversify into other regions. He also told Ernst Facebook has turned to independent fact-checkers to assess what “misinformation” may be posted on the platform. Twitter’s C-E-O Jack Dorsey says the company has a framework for dealing with concerns about political bias. He also said the company is at a point where it can decentralize it’s employee base. Democrats on the committee rejected concerns of bias from Ernst and other Republicans, countering that nearly every day the most engaged pages on Facebook offer what they termed “far right content.”

Officials with the Department of Justice, Wednesday (today), report multiple federal search warrants were executed in the Des Moines Metropolitan area this (Wed.) morning Including Waukee and Adel). The searches at the 43 separate locations were an official law enforcement action involving officers, agents and investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and 17 other agencies (See the list below). Additional details were not immediately available.

(Agencies participating in the coordinated effort include…in addition to those mentioned… : Des Moines Police Department (DMPD); Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement (DNE); Iowa State Patrol (ISP); Mid-Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force (MINE); Tri-County Task Force; Central Iowa Drug Task Force (CIDTF); Mid-Iowa Drug Task Force (MIDTF); Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI); Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI); Homeland Security Investigations (HIS); Altoona Police Department; West Des Moines Police Department; Urbandale Police Department; Marshalltown Police Department; Dallas County Sheriff’s Office; and Iowa State Fire Marshal.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Nov. 18, 2020) — The Wellmark Foundation has provided 28 Iowa organizations with their Small Matching Assets to Community Health (MATCH) grant awards amounting to $576,608. The organizations (which locally includes Council Bluffs, Lenox, Malvern and Greenfield)  were notified in August of their pending awards and had 12 weeks to secure the required matching funds. Small MATCH grant recipients were able to use a combination of in-kind donations, services and cash in order to receive their award from The Wellmark Foundation. All the funded projects will help individuals, families and communities achieve better health through built environment initiatives that encourage physical activity or access to and consumption of nutritious foods.

The 28 Iowa organizations awarded a Wellmark Foundation 2020 Small MATCH grant (Locally) include:

• City of Lenox, $25,000
  Main Street Pocket Park
• City of Malvern, $25,000
  Boehner Pond Enhancement: Wabash Trace Connectivity
• Greenfield Chamber/Main Street & Development, $25,000
  Greenfield Park Improvement Project
• Iowa Western Community College (Council Bluffs), $10,000
  Treasure Cove Disc Golf Course Improvements​​​​
• Kellans Kingdom (In Carroll), $25,000
  Western Iowa Miracle Field
• Madison County Foundation for Environmental Education, $25,000
  Madison County Environmental Learning Center
• Woodbine Community Foundation, $25,000
  Park & Rec Complex Trailhead, Pedestrian Route and Community Orchard Loop

To learn more about those and other projects, visit Wellmark.com/Foundation. Since its inception in 1991, The Wellmark Foundation has provided more than $36 million in grant funding to communities across Iowa and South Dakota.

Police in Creston report one arrest and they were notified of an incident involving a delivered package. Officials say 44-year old Joel Gross, of Creston, was arrested Tuesday morning, for Driving While Suspended. He was later released on a $300 bond. And, a man residing in the 600 block of N. Maple, in Creston, reported to police Tuesday afternoon, that sometime between 11-a.m. and 3-p.m., Tuesday, someone opened package that had been delivered to his residence by USPS. Missing from inside the package, was a PS5 (Playstation 5) controller. The loss was estimated at $70.

Authorities in Dallas County, Tuesday, released more information with regard to a fatal vehicle vs. child accident in the parking lot of the Woodward-Granger High School. The child was identified as 7-year-old Charlie Brewer, a second-grade elementary school student from Bouton.

The accident happened at around 3:45-p.m., Monday. The driver of the vehicle was identified as 47-year-old Robert Nevitt, of Perry. In a news release, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office said their preliminary investigation suggests that there was no intention by Nevitt to strike the child, and that while the investigation is ongoing, there have been no charges filed at this time.

Grief resources are available for students and school staff members.